UFC in Japan this December: Who will be on the card?

Our buddies over at Nightmare of Battle posted an excerpt from the new issue of Kamipro where Dana White was interviewed. From Nightmare of Battle:

In the table of contents it says "Finally, in December, UFC will land in Japan" and there is a quote from the interview with Dana White where he says "A Japan event is already in this years schedule".

Now, it's been long rumored that the UFC wanted to make Japan a yearly stop as it has been the other major MMA market in the world. It started with the purchase of PRIDE in 2007, with the original intentions being to continue to run the promotion as a separate entity of the UFC and have a yearly "Super Card" featuring the top fighters of both promotions. Soon after the purchase, Zuffa management figured out that it was far more difficult to run any shows in Japan as there are outside forces they didn't foresee having to work with. The UFC lacked a cable television outlet for the event and unfortunately Japan is not a Pay Per View market. There were also issues with the brand forever being associated with organized crime, even with the new ownership. 

Four years later and the Zuffa owned UFC is planning their first event in Japan. They have started to lay down the groundwork to deliver the cards to the maximum amount of people possible via Smart Phone streaming and are working to improve their television deal. With Japanese MMA currently stalled out with neither DREAM or Sengoku having shows planned, what can the UFC do that the "hometown" shows couldn't?

After the jump, I'll discuss the legitimate chances for success and most logical fighters...

Japan is a market that is celebrity driven. Fighters like Bob Sapp and Masato were successful not because they were the most talented but because FEG had the ability to keep them in the public spotlight EDIT: I'm not saying Masato wasn't talented, he was just super marketable like Sapp who was not talented... K-1 Max was created for the sole purpose of showcasing the good looking smaller fighters on TV. The event only took off when Masato became heart throb. His retirement was the reason the show was not as successful in the following years. This past year FEG used Alistair Overeem as their spokesperson and had him appear on many variety shows to keep the brand in the public's eye. 

The biggest parallel I can draw for the UFC is the fighter cameos in shows like Deadliest Warrior and Blue Mountain State on Spike. Now, instead of a 1.2 million share, imagine if those shows had a 12 million share. Now you're talking a real amount of brand awareness. Unfortunately, the UFC doesn't have a Spike TV equivalent in Japan to keep their brand fresh and they don't have the media outlet to keep their UFC fighters relevant. They do have a solid print media partner in Kamipro but lack television, which is the most important medium in Japan.

To have the greatest chance of maintaining brand awareness from now through December and beyond the show, the UFC needs to start utilizing their Japanese fighters. Their biggest asset right now is Yoshihiro Akiyama who I'd expect to start doing all sorts of press following his fight with Nate Marquardt at UFC 128 in New Jersey. Norifumi Yamamoto still has some name value to help sell the card as well. If this was two years ago, the logical headliner would have been a rematch with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira against Mirko Filopovic. Both were loved in Japan and still carry some nostalgic relevancy in the fight community. Now, I believe the most likely headlining fight is Yoshihiro Akiyama against Wanderlei Silva. The fight was supposed to happen at UFC 116 but an injury sidelined Silva and Chris Leben stepped in on short notice. I believe the December card is the time for this fight to happen. Win or lose at UFC 128, I think Akiyama sticks around till at least year's end as to headline the Japan card.

Nightmare of Battle adds from the same Kamipro issue:

Jose Aldo: "If (Hatsu) Hioki comes to UFC he’ll probably be my challenger."

Wanderlei Silva: "Leave UFC Japan to me!"

Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto: "Next time I’ll return the favor two fold."

Urijah Faber: "I want to make a "KID showdown" the triggering explosion of this sport."

What do you guys think? What matches do you think the UFC makes for their return to Japan? Besides the logical choices of Michihiro Omigawa, Kid, and Akiyama; who else would fight on the card?